Album review: Fatima Al Qadiri’s Brute is abstract and challenging

Brute by Fatima Al Qadiri. Courtesy Hyperdub

Fatima Al Qadiri

Brute

(Hyperdub)

Three and a half stars

The 2014 debut album from the Kuwaiti-raised electronica explorer Fatima Al Qadiri, Asiatisch, made some concessions to mainstream influences – not least a surreal cover of Nothing Compares 2 U, originally made famous by Sinéad O'Connor.

But this follow-up sees her blasting farther into abstract aural orbit, despite only two of its 11 tracks topping the four-minute mark.

There are echoes of the Far Eastern influences that defined Brute's predecessor, such as the tinkling melodic flourishes sprinkled throughout Power and behind Blood Moon's choral expansiveness. And clear dubstep/grime influences come to the fore on Aftermath and Blows, with wall-shaking bass bouncing around behind steely synth lines.

Blows and Power both confirm the tense, claustrophobic mood with spoken samples about police brutality that mirror Brute's memorably odd cover art, which features what appears to be a damp-eyed Tellytubby in police riot garb. In 10 years' time, Al Qadiri could conceivably be referenced as a Steve Reich-esque figure in the development of future-facing music. Until then, us mere mortals can only do our best to make sense of it all.